Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,374: R2-WRWLF (Droid Factory)

R2-WRWLF Halloween Edition
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Wolf ears
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $14.99-$17.99-$14.99
Availability: August 2026
Appearances: n/a 

Bio: All different types of droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. This droid can be found in teh swampy vegetation of Zanbar. Join R2-WRWLF on their adventures throughout the galaxy. May the Force be with you... and your Droids! (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!  

Commentary: Hailing from the planet where Savage and Maul did some stuff, R2-WRWLF is a departure from most holiday droids. Generally, Disney do a good job to be respectful of coloring in the lines and giving you a figure that seems that it could be an in-universe paint job, plus or minus some garish flourishes or the occasional transparent or glow chassis. This one makes a big departure by giving us something that's more of a "designer figure." Given how previous droids were zombies or ghosts or pumpkins or even a vampire, it makes sense that they wanted to try something a bit different. And you know what? It works.

While not without its pricing drama (see below), it's easy to see this droid and go "you is a wahrwilf!" This figure uses the standard build-a-droid body with the non-cable feet, and adds an all-new set of wolf ears. Perhaps we'll see them again as cat ears, a "black cat" droid would make a lot of sense. The Disney designers really went to town on this one. The wolf ears have pink interiors, but the dome is surprisingly ornate. The main eye is yellow - which looks great - and adds a black pupil. Creepy! The box below it adds pink "gums" around a white box for "teeth," and even retains a red dot which can be the interior of the mouth. It's a really clever use of the space, even if it is a bit of a departure from a traditional droid. Aside from that, most of the panels are painted brown - beautiful brown.

The ears are removable, but cover one of the greeblies on top of his dome. This helps it to lock in place. Oh, and be sure to compare your figure to the cardback photos - the "torn panel" patterns changed from the card art to the figure.

The body and legs are sort of brilliant. The droid body is cast in brown put painted mostly in red with lines that look sort of like a plaid pattern, with the occasional "pocket" panel. I love this - I don't think we've ever had a plaid droid before. I'm surprised it didn't start in a Christmas robot. If you've seen the Lon Chaney Jr. classic The Wolf Man or even An American Werewolf in London, and my goodness you should see both, you know that lycanthropy results in torn clothing. Disney knows this too. The figure's right "shoulder" is exposed brown, as are a couple of back panels and one front panel. What a clever idea! I would continue with the commentary, but it sort of gets ugly as you go down - the feet are brown, but so is a third leg extending from below the figure's shirt. Maybe they should have painted the feet brown or green. The soles of the feet are painted black, with black wheels. That's unusual, but it looks good.

If you're looking for something brown, or something dandy, make sure you get this one before it gets expensive. Disney really spent some money slathering this guy in paint, and it turned out rather well. It's creative, and while it probably has no real place in any diorama you can't deny it isn't interesting. $15 isn't cheap, but the only new 3 3/4-inch action figures on the market today at a lower price are Retro Kenner guys. And you have to buy a six pack. I hope monster collectors get wind of this one, I think they're going to enjoy it as a particularly exciting monster mash-up.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Shop Disney. It was $14.99 on launch day, $17.99 a couple days later, and then $14.99 again by the next Wednesday.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,374: August 25, 2026

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,301: R4-TR3 (Droid Factory)

R4-TR3 Holiday Edition
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Star topper
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $14.99
Availability: October 2024
Appearances: n/a 

Bio: All different types of droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. This droid is right at home on the forest moon of Endor. Join R4-TR3 on their adventures throughout the galaxy. May the Force be with you... and your Droids! (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!  

Commentary: I admit my enthusiasm for holiday droids is waning a bit - they're very good, but also are increasingly exhausting. They're more a collectible unto themselves, and when it comes to making a toy of a theme park attraction or an unrelated holiday it should probably be special. Or cheap. Lucky for me, I got R4-TR3 for $11.38 (no joke) last year thanks to a sale and a coupon that got a bunch of holiday droids down to a more reasonable per-figure price. Nothing against the holidays, but I have over 20 Christmas droids and I don't decorate for Christmas. Which I guess is a big mark in this guy's favor. I got a fully-decorated Playmobil tree [16bit.com FOTD #2,368] in a set I got super duper cheap on clearance, which sometimes make an appearance. I bought it for the easy chair in the set. But I digress.

This droid is neat as a collectible or piece of holiday festiveness, and it's a little too garish to fit in with your Endor diorama. It's not bad, nor did the designer do a bad job - I just want my figures to go with all my movie figures, and this guy is close. The green body with brown feet? Perfect. The dark green panels and mid-century dome markings look fantastic. Even the red eye works for me. The differing colors on the feet are a little odd, and I don't love the gold dot lights or red box outlines. They're great ideas to make this guy look like a decorated tree, with everything lining up well and lots of little tidbits like red, gold, and silver vents as well as a blue projector to really make it look like something in a home somewhere. The gold star on top really drives the point home - all five of them.

But is it Star Wars? That's the question. I'm sure everybody is saying "Well, yeah" and they aren't wrong. I would be a lot happier with this droid if it kept the star, the green, the brown, and the silver, but lost some of the other colors. And I assume a ton of people who bought it love it for those other colors.

If you missed it last year, you can still get it on eBay for about $25-$30 shipped in the USA. If that sounds outrageous, keep in mind that early adopters for this year's R2-H25 paid $14.99 plus tax and shipping - about $27.21. After the increase it's over $30. Is it worth paying $30 to ship a droid to your house? I'm starting to lean toward "no." I'm not asking Disney to cut the price, but maybe put the Halloween and Christmas droids together as a bundle or on the same day - Disney can reduce labor and materials costs, and we can pay to ship one box instead of two. Win win.

I took more than a year to crack mine open. I like it, but I don't love it. I'm coming more from a place of fatigue and excess more than actual dislike. Over the past 15 or so years, I've bought hundreds of Disney droids based on this mold ranging from $7-$30 shipped. I've missed and/or skipped a couple, especially some bundled with big expensive vehicles that I didn't necessarily have a crack at. With shipping charges, you're probably going to get at least 3-4 holiday droids per year at $25-$30 a whack, and that starts to add up. Is it worth $120 a year for something you'll look at, chuckle, and chuck in a drawer? Probably not. But people who don't have 3,000 figures will probably love this as a nice bit of holiday fun rather than another symbol of decades of plastic debauchery.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Shop Disney.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,301: December 11, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,298: R2-H25 (Droid Factory)

R2-H25 Holiday Edition
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Candy Cane hat
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $14.99 $17.99
Availability: October 2025
Appearances: n/a 

Bio: All different types of droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. This droid aided the resistance along with BB-H20 on the salty world of Crait... Join R2-H25 on their adventures throughout the galaxy. May the Force be with you... and your Droids! (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!  

Commentary: Despite not loving the premise, I jumped on R2-H25 back in October and I'm glad I did. A number of companies had a round of tariff price increases in October and apparently Disney was one of them - the droid went from $14.99 when I ordered it to $17.99 at some point before November 2, when I started filling out this review. If you like candy canes or The White Stripes, this white plastic figure with red panels (and a few metallic red panels) is likely just the thing for you. It's sort of silly, but it still looks like something you might see in the background in a movie or on the cartoons. There's nothing un-Star Wars-y about red panels on a white droid, we've actually had quite a few over the years like R4-E1 and R5-D4.

The mold is not anything new - heck, you can tell, because it's showing signs of wear. On my sample, the dome is a little bit looser and spins more freely than other droids. The third leg, still removable, is bent to the side a bit. Maybe it's a fluke, but this sometimes happens after a tool has years and years (and years) of use and reuse, with probably over 100 droids based on these parts. The right and left legs share a mold, and are the wire-free versions we've seen on most of Disney's figures. The paint is generally good, with each piece generously slathered in red - largely very evenly and cleanly. What surprised me was the box surrounding the eye, the stuff under the dome, and the holo projector have a slight metallic tint to it. It's not obvious, it probably cost more, but it's a nice bonus detail they put in there. I miss the silver on the vents because it gives it more of a realistic hardware vibe, but this still looks good perfectly fine for the nature of the festivities.

Unique to this figure is a hat. It looks like a snow drift with a striped candy cane on it. The sculpt is nice, the detail is fine, and it fits over the various painted (and one unpainted) dome panels. It has a lot going for it and it's just a heck of a lot of painted boxes that the factory had to do, I hope automation is handling most of it because this looks challenging even with a paint mask. All the panels are not perfectly filled on my sample, but I would say it's good enough that I'm not complaining for a mass-market $15 toy. At $18 I'd be cranky.

A commonly asked question is when will fans say "that's too expensive" and we might be getting there. For a theme park souvenir, $20 is no big deal - but do I need another droid repaint when it's also $10 shipping? Not really. I'd be more open to things if they could all ship in one transaction, but the reality of these things costing $30 a pop - or more with tax - makes them seem like something I might skip a few more of. I missed a couple due to non-availability and I might just let them go at this point. If you can get this guy at a fair price, it's a perfectly nice figure. Mine was $27.21 to get it to my door. That's cheaper than a trip to California, or parking at Downtown Disney, but it's also half the price of most new video games for the 100-and-whateverth droid repaint. I might suggest Disney start dropping 2 at a time, or doing 2-packs, to offset delivery sticker shock.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Shop Disney.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,298: December 2, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,295: Gonk (Gift Snowflake, Advent Calendar 2024)

GONK Gift
Star Wars Droid Factory 2024 Advent Calendar
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: R2 Gingerbread Droid, BB-8 Snowman, Chopper Penguin, Gonk Gift, D-O Holiday, B2EMO present, R1 Holiday Bell, wreath, Santa hat, drink tray, scarf, tiny top hat
Action Feature: Hat, open hatch to reveal mechanical guts inside
Retail: $79.99
Availability: August 2024
Appearances: n/a

Bio: All different types of astromech droid populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. Open up the Sandcrawler to reveal and build 7 new droids to celebrate along with them for 25 days this season. May the Force be with you... and your droids! (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: This Gonk (Gift) is not poison, despite what your High School German classes may have told you. Wlel, maybe it was - the $80 set is going for about $40 on eBay now, which means it likely underperformed. As of my writing this there's no 2025 Advent Calendar, and based on last year's designs I'd say that might be a good thing. They weren't bad - heck, some are great! But I feel like it's getting harder and harder to make something stand out as original. Thankfully, this Power Droid is plenty weird.

Making use of the ever-popular Santa Claus Hat, the existing droid mold gets cast in white plastic with a blue snowflake wrapping paper pattern. It's very good for what it is - a holiday souvenir. We don't tend to see a lot of figures with printed-all-over patterns, let alone ones with painted red ribbon motifs. The deco is sharp, and a couple of bolts - plus the face - also get some paint. There aren't special eye details or anything, which is unfortunate - I would have loved a little more face here. The 2022 gift Gonk was similarly underpainted in that region, but the 2024 model spends its paint budget. It looks distinctive. Depending on your vision, you might be able to squint at let this guy roam around your dioramas hatless and he'll fit right in.

In terms of action features, there's not much here. This formerly gray droid with his festive hat's legs swing forward and the legs swing back, but where's he bobbin at? Probably Hoth. The dome is removable revealing molded gray detailing inside, but there's not a lot of paint or special detail in there. This is normal for the mold, and Disney has been continuing to get dividends from its droid tooling investments. As they should. But I don't think they've ever done a carded Power Droid for their parks or proprietary stores.

I like this guy a bunch - he's hung out on my desk since getting him last year, partially as a reminder to review him now and partially because it just looks neat. Given that the whole big cardboard Sandcrawler is reasonably inexpensive due to lack of consumer interest, I'd recommend the set to droid fanatics and those who need holiday droid things. I also wouldn't mind seeing Disney let their designers go wild and do "designer droids" in whatever colors they deem worthwhile, because that sort of thing sure works for Be@rbricks and Glyos.

Collector's Notes: I got mine with some coupons from DisneyStore.com last year. They're out, but it can be had on other marketplaces, as can the 2022 version.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,295: November 20, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,289: R5-Z0MB (Droid Factory)

R5-Z0MB Halloween Edition
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $14.99
Availability: August 2024
Appearances: n/a 

Bio: All different types of droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. This droid can be found wandering the bleak swamps of Corvax Fen on Mustafar. Join R5-Z0MB on their adventures throughout the galaxy. May the Force be with you... and your Droids! (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!  

Commentary: I dragged my feet on R5-Z0MB last year for some reason, and my invoice says I got it for $6.83 ($8.99 less a discount), which is a steal. At $15 it's not bad - it's a retool of a retool of a droid mold that's been in circulation since about 2008, probably. (There's still some debate on the Hasbro origins of Disney's droid molds, although I remember being told they weren't Hasbro molds even when it seemed they very much were in that first year. So teach the debate, I guess.) This one is pretty distinctive, and shows Disney's continued strength in coming up with something holiday-themed that's subtle enough to actually fit in with your other stuff. Hasbro's holiday items are great, but few "belong" with the movie toys. If this little guy was tossed in the back of Jabba's dungeon's boiler room, you'd say "yeah, that tracks." If it was dismembered in a big Sandcrawler, you'd go "oh was that in there in the movie?" It's a good design.

Oh, and don't forget to play your double-CD last show of Oingo Boingo this week. Happy Halloween.

The minty green "flesh" head and legs may not be exactly a match for typical droids, but it's close to my skin tone after spending all summer indoors here in Arizona. Bronze can get a green tint over time, so maybe that's what Disney was aiming for - the droid's panels are penny-colored. It looks great! There are specks and sparkle, shine and grime, disrepair and surprisingly clean panel lines. The body seems like a clean body just got filthy, same as the limbs. The head is where it gets good, with a massive gash in the side plus loads of dirty detail along the green base of the dome. One of the three eyes seems dead, and the trio shows signs of distress - like he was crying lubricant. The interior shows a pylon and some of the electronics inside, which is kinda creepy and cool. It's as close as we're going to get to seeing droid brains. There are silver marks where the head was seemingly chomped out, showing metal under the green paint. It's really a good design that makes you think of a story, because this guy has clearly seen some stuff that would turn your poo green. Maybe he gave Vader the stink-optic. It's hard to know.

I'd recommend this one. It didn't sell great at the time and it can be had for slightly over SRP now. It's worth the $20ish asking price, and I hope Disney considers reusing the mold for an x-ray droid, or something showcasing the interior. "The visible astromech" could be a pretty cool variant, or a "blueprint" deco like we saw from Funko this year and I've been asking various companies to make for the last 20 years. Not that I'm bitter or anything. Anyway, get this Shiromo in droid form, Disney really nailed every possible aspect of this design and deserve your praise/loose change for it.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Shop Disney. I got the August release in October 2024 at a substantial discount. Tellin' ya all the zomby truth - I'm OK with this.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,289: October 30, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,273: R2-B0025 (Droid Factory)

R2-B0025 Halloween Edition
Star Wars Droid Factory
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: Comes apart
Retail: $14.99
Availability: August 2025
Appearances: n/a 

Bio: All different types of droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. This droid can be found on the plundered planet of Corvus. Join R2-B0025 on their adventures throughout the galaxy. May the Force be with you... and your Droids! (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at Amazon now!

Click here to buy it at eBay now!
 

Commentary: While this year's Easter (yeah, that's the ticket) droid sold out quickly, R2-B0025 stayed in stock for a while. While arguably not as culturally interesting, it is pretty good and gives fans a pumpkin spice R2-D2. This is not the first orange droid with some green on top - that would be BB-B0020 [FOTD #2,741] from 2020. And frankly, I can't wait to see what they decide to do in 2085 for what I can only assume may be named R5-B0085.

This is the first droid where I feel we're seeing signs of mold degradation. Both limbs swivel loosely. They're not super-loose played-with-by-a-kid limp, but my sample's legs will spin a good amount if you flick your wrist while holding the droid. The mold seems to be pretty much the same as every Disney droid since the removal of the wires on the legs, so I don't see any actual mold changes. I'm just assuming that the shoulders may need a tune-up, but perhaps your samples are better. (Leave a comment, we want to know!)

Deco is great. Like, really great. Since it cost me over $27 to have it delivered to my house, I feel that's important. There's no hat this time, but the paint job is generally very good. Cast in orange, the figure has sparkly orange paint on a number of panels which really pops nicely. There are also black Jack-o-lantern-esque panels. If that weren't enough, we get some silver and gold greeblies too. There are green panels on top of the head, including a "stem." While Disney could probably try to make a jagged smile or something like that, they instead made sure to put pumpkin colors on a template that would work for a galaxy far, far away. This guy would fit in with any diorama as a background droid and not look too out of the ordinary, other than it might have more and better paint than a lot of other figures.

Happy Halloween, everybody! I am a little behind on my spooky droids - I'll post some previously unposted ones as we get closer to the big day. If this figure is still available for a fair price, I'd recommend it. I like it a lot more than the BB-20020 pumpkin bot, but that may just be a growing desire to memory hole the sequels. It's a lot more conservative than Hasbro's incredibly whimsical offerings this year which also include a Dathomir Witch, a glowing Imperial Royal Ghost, and a Night Trooper Mummy. Not gonna lie, I might pick up the rest of those The Black Series guys if they wind up on sale. And now, a song.

Watch what happens when I walk up to somebody! Now that Disney has given us two pumpkins, a skeleton, a ghost, candy corn, a vampire, a witch, a zombie, a Frankentein's monster, a Dracula, and what I can best describe as "October," what's next? I'm assuming a black cat can't be far behind, maybe a spider or a big weird eyeball BB-8. If they can make a Grim Reaper out of Huyang, maybe we'll be all set.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Shop Disney. While I complain about higher shipping rates and taxes, it's peanuts compared to actually schlepping over to Downtown Disney or a theme park. Even paid parking is enough to make me say "you know what, maybe I'll just buy it online" in my old age.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,273 September 4, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,272 Imperial Royal Guard (Halloween Edition)

IMPERIAL ROYAL GUARD (Halloween Edition)
The Black Series 2025 Window Box Line Look Halloween Packaging, Target Exclusive
Item No.: No. G2780
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Bogling as the Mothman, blaster, pike
Action Feature: Glows in the dark!
Retail: $24.99
Availability: August 2025
Appearances: n/a

Bio: Celebrate the season with specially designed Star Wars figures from The Black Series! (Taken from the box packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: Holiday figures, like Standor of Eternia, exist as a sort of souvenir or a way to celebrate a thing that exists outside continuity. Some fans like it. Hardcore fans usually don't. Hasbro has made numerous Halloween and Christmas figures to the tune of hundreds of dollars, which you either loved or decided "not for me." While the entire 6-inch line slowly got to "not for me," we have a rare exception in this Imperial Royal Guard (Halloween Edition) that's a glow in the dark ghost. And this proves Hasbro's point - there are ways to sell people Star Wars who don't collect the line. I bought this figure to go with my other glowing toys - I have no real interest in Halloween or 6-inch figures. But a big guy made completely of glow in the dark bony green plastic? OK, you got my number.

Hasbro has generally stayed away from glow in the dark toys. Way back when, I asked Hasbro employee Andy Espenshade about some never-released Jurassic Park The Lost World Chaos Effect dinosaurs. The "Night Attack" line had a goofy glow-in-the-dark premise, and I non-ironically wanted them. I was told - this is not an exact quote, just a fuzzy memory from 25 summers ago - "usually when you see glow-in-the-dark, that means we're out of ideas." The line's star was fading, and that wasn't something people seemed too sad to see not get made. Glow figures were a staple in Kenner's 1990s toys, but in the 2000s they were decidedly less common. Other than some Toys R Us exclusive The Amazing Spider-Man kid figures and a quartet of Ghostbusters Plasma Series "slimed" figures, Hasbro has been super reluctant to do glow-in-the-dark items in recent years. 2025 has been a great year for glow, though. The Real Ghostbusters got a fully-glowing Ecto-Glow Ecto-1 and rereleases of the rare Ecto-Glow Heroes. Star Wars got this figure. And Transformers got a Target-exclusive Transformers EarthSpark Cyberglow Megatron. I've been asking for this kind of thing for years, so I'm kind of surprised we're getting a bunch all at once. It's a great time to collect glowing toys, if that's your thing. I assume this is a massive waste of a SKU for Star Wars fans.

And that's just the rambling prologue!

The figure itself is at least the fifth use of the mold, as Hasbro will absolutely milk its collector tooling for all its worth. The plain red Royal Guard has been done in Black, Blue (with new helmet), Carbonized, and Kir Kanos colors (in a Carnor Jax box, in one of the line's few nomenclature errors.) The mold is unchanged, and this is probably Hasbro's least-costly figure in the line thanks to deco. Specifically, the lack of deco. The glow plastic absorbs a lot of the sculpted detail, and it's molded all in a single color. Everything is pretty shiny and it looks just as good as the previous releases of the mold. If the mold is showing signs of wear, it's not obvious - glow plastic tends to do a good job of hiding imperfections. The figure has a holster under his cape for a blaster, but it's a little loose. I recommend having him hold the Biker Scout pistol in his hand.

The pike or staff is also cast in glow, which eats the visual details to my eyes. But this is what I want out of a glow figure - all glow plastic. No notes. Hasbro got it right.

The figure's only paint app is on the face. The visor on the head is painted black and augmented by a hint of a skull, that uses the glowing negative space under the eyes to make a pretty good "ghostly" pattern on the helmet. It's simple, and it's perfect. I would buy other Hasbro troopers that do some sort of glow spooky mask thing.

The only real change to the figure's physical being is the cape. The new pattern is more ghostly, very thin, and looks like any of a number of cheesecloth ghost crafting projects. It's great. I'm glad Hasbro made a new cape pattern for this one.

The Bogling has been released several times too. One came with the Werewolf Wookiee, another one came with a Holiday Sweater Mandalorian Warrior, one came with Kal Kestis in a multi-pack, another came in a creature set. This one is green with red eyes, white fangs, and a colorway no doubt inspired by the Mothman. (Cryptozoology fans, you know what's up.) It's a sturdy little sidekick figure and a nice bonus with decent sculpting that will most likely hang out on your desk during Spooky Season.

If I weren't into glowing toys, I would not have bought this set. If all you want are guys from the movies, games, and TV, you should not buy this. If you have a lot of Halloween decorations or just love things that glow, this is a must-buy figure. Hasbro did a nice job, and priced it well. I find it to be worth the asking price, mostly because I've paid about this for indie figures that aren't as fancy.

Glow Notes: Hasbro's glow plastic in 2025 is quite good. It's slower to charge than the Glyos/Onell Design glow, but it does glow brightly. If charged by the Sun it's easily one of the brightest figures I've picked up in quite some time. If you collect glow-in-the-dark toys and want something impressive, and don't care about the characters, you should buy this.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Target. There was no pre-order.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,272 September 2, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,227: R2-BNE (Bunny, Holiday Droid Factory)

R2-BNE Hoppy Easter
Star Wars Droid Factory 2025 Spring Droid
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: Bunny ear hat
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $14.99
Availability: February 2025
Appearances: n/a   

Bio: All different types of astromech droid populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. This droid can be found in the idyllic plains of Naboo. Join R2-BNE on their adventures throughout the galaxy. May the Force be with you... and your droids! (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: Disney's special droids now greatly outnumber Hasbro's output, so if you want a seasonal souvenir you're probably going to be buying a bunch from the house of mouse. The latest offering is R2-BNE, which sold out online in under a week. Clearly, people like rabbit hats. The droid itself is the same mold we've been getting, with a new hat. The web bio says "Artoo's signature colors take on pastel hues and he wears an adorable pair of bunny ears, making him a stellar find in every Easter basket and the cutest way to celebrate the start of spring." The cardback bio indicates they are a separate character. Which will you choose? Probably neither, as it sold out, and you may not have another crack at this one.

This is a pretty good one. Rather than going with green, Disney opted to take a white droid and add both blue and pink to the figure. And it really works. Not necessarily evoking Easter specifically, these colors look a lot like some of the Easter Bunny characters I've seen some other manufacturers over the years. Specifically, the Hallmark/Crayola bunnies from about thirty years ago. (Retro ornament enthusiasts may remember Hallmark's various Easter Ornaments and other collectibles from that era, but I digress.) I don't anticipate a big edition size for this one as seasonal stuff tends to have a pretty short shelf life. Go to the parks if you missed it online, it sold out quickly. Heck, buy two. There will be someone who wants one.

Since it's the first Easter droid, the good news is there's nothing else like it in the toy line. Hasbro hasn't done a lot of pastels, Disney has largely stayed away from pinks and baby blues. The coloring is a little paler than the renders on the cardback, but I assume to most fans it'll look like baby color R2-D2. The figure is mostly a case of what you see being what you get, with one exception - under the dome is a really striking metallic blue color. I was expecting the "guts" underneath to be unpainted or gray, so this was a real surprise. There are also a lot of little details I would have not expected, like pink highlights around the eye and "ankles." I see no indication that anybody pocketed pennies out of the paint budget to make this one.

If you're a droid fanatic, or if this particular color suits you, you're going to want this one. I don't anticipate a ton of Easter figures in the coming years, but who knows? I would've expected a few Valentine's droids by now, and haven't yet seen one. The generous helping of pink mixed with blue really looks great, and I've got a lot of friends who I think will be excited to see this one - or they would be, had it not sold out so quickly.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney as they were offering free shipping. Shipping is presently around $10. Parking at Downtown Disney is also about $10, so short of a clearance find or dumping on eBay I don't expect it to get much better than this. I ordered it February 17, received it February 20, and it was sold out on February 20. If it restocks, better hop on it.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,227: March 27, 2025

Star Wars Figure of the Day: Day 3,203: C1 (Penguin, Holiday Droid Factory)

C1 Penguin Droid
Star Wars Droid Factory 2024 Advent Calendar
Item No.: ???
Manufacturer: Disney
Number: n/a
Includes: R2 Gingerbread Droid, BB-8 Snowman, Chopper Penguin, Gonk Gift, D-O Holiday, B2EMO present, R1 Holiday Bell, wreath, Santa hat, drink tray, scarf, tiny top hat
Action Feature: Articulated arms, removable wreath, opening claw arm, removable third leg
Retail: $79.99
Availability: August 2024
Appearances: n/a   

Bio: All different types of astromech droid populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. Open up the Sandcrawler to reveal and build 7 new droids to celebrate along with them for 25 days this season. May the Force be with you... and your droids! (Taken from the packaging.)

Image: Adam's photo lab.

Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!

Commentary: This R1 (Penguin Droid riffs on the Chopper C1-10P body with the vibes of a rockhopper penguin wearing a scarf. It kind of works, it kind of doesn't, but what matters is that it's distinctive and not particularly holiday-ey. Nothing about it particularly reeks of Christmas, but there are penguin-inspired elements like the splashes of paint around the eyes, the central eye being painted kind of like a beak, and of course the yellow feet. It's not too overt, and the off-kilter scarf splash of red paint certainly evokes the idea of a winter garment without being overtly Earthy.

You've seen this mold many times before but there are some key changes, like the radar dish. Specifically, there is no radar dish on his dome. You do get a green wreath with red berries and a gold bow, and it has indentations to sit on his arms. You'll need to pry off the dome or the arms to get it seated, though. Aside from that, the plastic parts are pretty much the same as several other Disney C1 droids - and that's perfectly fine.

With removable limbs and the usual series of joints, there's a lot to like here and not too many surprises. The bright white and golden yellow colors really pop against the black chassis, and at first glance it seems like it might be out of place in the dark, dusty, and otherwise corroded galaxy from which our toys hail. I wouldn't recommend getting the set solely for this figure, but it's a good figure in a pretty great set. If you're all-in for droid figures, Disney put some good variety into this box and you'd be well-served to pick it up on sale. At full price, it's not bad - but if you've got hundreds of droids and few to no playsets, your need for them may be pretty insignificant by now. I like it enough to say I'd love to also see orca, quail, or other creature-inspired droid recolors. With the pop-out arm and distinctive look, I'm not going to get rid of it or anything.

Collector's Notes: I got mine from Disney as they were offering both a discount code as well as free shipping. At under $70 delivered, it's pretty worthwhile. Try SHIPMAGIC or DISNEY25 codes to see if they still work.

--Adam Pawlus

Day 3,203: January 2, 2025